


Please Don’t Take Your Love Away - Chapter 1: The Inhale

by Rhang



Series: Samerik: The AU [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Chapter 2 is a doozy you are forewarned, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hospitalization, Injury Recovery, M/M, They're married in this one, anxiety attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 17:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14140656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhang/pseuds/Rhang
Summary: Just a few more hours.Erik receives the type of news no one wants to hear regarding a loved one.





	Please Don’t Take Your Love Away - Chapter 1: The Inhale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonIsNeverAlone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonIsNeverAlone/gifts).



> I’m not a writer, take that however you want. I’m a visual artist that heard the call to Make Wakanda Black Again so I’m (hopefully) doing my part. Since I love this ship I’m writing for it.
> 
> Any mistakes you find are mine.
> 
> Anyways strap in, this is where we start the series. This is the present day.

Erik did his best to go about his day as he would any other. Wake up, hit the gym, have some breakfast then headed into the lab to get some work done. He did his best not to pay too close attention to the empty chair at the dinner table by eating in front of the TV. Not focus on how quiet the house was after he turned the music off in the workshop. But quick glances to and touches against his wedding ring made his heart pang.

 _Just a few more hours. Just a few_ , he thought.

He thought about doing something nice like ordering in or grabbing a bottle of Sam’s favorite liquor to welcome him back later that evening. But Erik shook his head, he knew Sam. He knew Sam wouldn’t want any of that when he got in. A tight embrace and a comfortable bed was all Sam wanted when he got in from a long mission.

After the mission a while back that lasted 2 months, Sam wouldn’t let him leave the bedroom for more than a few minutes at a time those next three days. Erik felt his dick stir at that memory. While the reunion sex had been really good, having Sam in his arms again after so long had been what he cherished the most.

Erik sighed to himself and tried to get back to work when he cell went off. It was Monica.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Hey Erik, you busy right now?” she asked, her voice too tense for Erik’s liking.

“Nah, what’s up? Y’all need me in the field?” he asked sitting back in his chair.

“No, we just got back. Meet us at Liberty General, it’s important,” she said.

“How’s-,” he started to say as the call disconnected. “Sam.”

His instincts were screaming for him to get up and move. But his gut was telling him something was wrong as well. He grabbed his coat and keys and took the truck.

He got to Liberty General Hospital as fast as he could without breaking any laws and pushing his luck on some back streets. He parked in the visitor’s parking garage and got out making his way to the Emergency Room entrance while his heart started racing. He dialed Monica back and waited for her to pick up as he neared the doors.

“ERIK!” he heard and whipped his head around to see Misty and Colleen standing outside. He didn’t even see them standing there.

“What’s going on? Talk to me,” he said not liking the vibe the two women had passing glances between each other.

Misty started tearing up. Colleen rubbed her shoulders. Misty shook her head. “I don’t know how-it-it happened,” she choked out.

Erik looked to Colleen and she sucked back tears. “It’s Sam, Erik. He’s hurt…it’s bad. I’m sorry.”

“What?” he could hear himself say but he was just shaking his head. “Nah, fuck that.”

He continued on into the lobby of the ER and went to the front desk. He provided his ID and driver’s license and asked for Sam’s room. The lady printed up his pass and gave him the room number. Erik flew to the elevators and could feel his body filling with all kinds of emotions, disbelief being the main one. _Sam was fine, he had to be. Nothing was wrong_. Sam had taken many a hit that should have downed him but he bounced back quickly, like it was nothing. This would be nothing too.

When the elevators opened, an ominous feeling took him over as he started looking for Sam’s room. The closer the room numbers on the doors got to the one he was searching for, Erik couldn’t explain it, his heart felt like it was breaking in his chest. He rounded the corner to the hallway where Sam’s room would be first on his right and saw Monica, Luke and Rhodey standing there with their heads bowed.

He looked at each of them, waiting for what, he wasn’t sure. He turned to look at the closed door with Sam’s number on it and sighed. He’d waited 4 weeks to see his husband come home, he had no idea they’d meet this way when he woke up this morning.

Erik walked in and shut the door behind him as he felt his chest cave in on itself. The love of his life was hooked up to a life support machine, unconscious. Tears fell silently from his eyes as he noticed bandages all down Sam’s left side and a patch covering his right eye. Erik didn’t move for a while, he just stood there staring, unable to comprehend exactly what he was looking at. His mind cycled through the farewell kiss he gave Sam before he left at the beginning of the month, the late night texts from Sam saying that he was safe and ok. The call just yesterday when Sam said he’d be home today.

He took a step forward and felt his knees weaken. He quickly got to the chair at Sam’s bed side and took Sam’s right hand in his own. Erik swallowed the knot in his throat and tried to breathe. But the air didn’t seem to be reaching his lungs.

“Excuse me,” he heard. It startled him from his thoughts. He looked up to see a young woman in a lab coat.

“You the doctor?” Erik asked, looking back to Sam.

“I am. I’ve been told he’s your husband,” she said.

Erik brushed his lips against Sam’s knuckles remembering how Sam would brush his fingers against Erik’s lips to wake him up in the morning. “I am. He’s going to pull through this right Doc?”

“That remains to be seen. He came in with severe internal bleeding; he got here just in time. He had massive lacerations to both legs and along his left side; as well as fluid buildup in the lungs. We’ve done all we can, whether or not he pulls through is now up to him,” she said calmly. The whole time Erik just kept staring at Sam’s face.

Erik vaguely heard the door close and glanced to see they were alone again.

“What the hell were you doin’ babe? What the hell, _you promised me_ ,” Erik choked out a bit angry. Erik sucked back tears and tried to compose himself. He got up and kissed Sam’s lips softly and placed a hand on his chest gently to briefly feel Sam’s heartbeat. “I’ll be back babe,” he said before turning to leave the room.

Erik stepped out of the room to see Luke still standing there.

“So what happened?” Erik asked as he backed up to put space between him and Luke in case he started swinging. “Why is he the only one laid up in the fuckin’ hospital?”

“Erik, calm down,” Luke started.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! Answer the question,” Erik said raising his voice. “What happened?!”

Just then Monica and Rhodey came back.

“We were basically done. The mission was over. We got the data back, we were wrapping up. We were regrouping and Misty was on her way back and a few of the bad guys got the jump on her and had her pinned and were closing in. You know Sam, had the wings on and went in to draw the heat away from her so she could get back to the ship. It was too much for him. They shot his wings out and he fell. Hard,” Luke said as if he was watching it happen all over again before his eyes.

“I raced out to him and brought him back. We brought him straight here Erik. I promise we got him here as quickly as we could,” Rhodey explained.

“I called you the moment he was stable,” Monica said softly.

“Stable? How long have y’all been back? When did he go in for surgery?” Erik asked keeping his anger in check so he could get the answers he needed.

“He went in for the first surgery around seven this morning,” Rhodey admitted.

“So my husband has been here all day without me?” Erik asked angrily. “Y’all let them _operate_ on him without telling me?!”

“We all have agreed procedures for how we want these situations handled in the event they happen Erik. Sam didn’t want you notified until he was stable. He knew you’d worry,” Monica said.

 “That’s bullshit and y’all know it!” Erik yelled.

“Erik, relax! This is a hospital,” Luke said.

“I don’t care! How could y’all let this happen?! He’s MY HUSBAND! Y’all know, _y’all know_ what he means to me! He’s _all_ I got and you bring him back to me like THIS!? FUCK THAT?!” Erik yelled. Rhodey tried to grab him and restrain him from punching the wall but he pushed Rhodey away. Monica raced to him and hugged him tight. She pulled him in tight against her and held on.

“We know, Erik, we know. We know,” she whispered to him. “That’s why we haven’t left; we’ve been here all day with him. We wouldn’t leave him here like this.”

Erik finally felt the tears break through. He was too afraid to think beyond the rage and anger; he didn’t want to think about returning to that quiet house he’d endured in Sam’s absence. He didn’t want to think about their house full of every happy memory between them in the event Sam never came home with him.

-

Eric stayed at Sam’s bedside. He’d told the rest of the team they could leave. He could look after his husband just fine. He got comfortable in the recliner and settled in for the evening. Not really interested in eating alone again or leaving Sam’s side.

 In the quiet of the room, Erik thought about back when they were still young and dumb.  When Sam was just the cute boy with the pretty eyes that stayed in the apartment building across the street every summer and Erik had caught himself staying out late just to talk to Sam a little while longer on those summer nights. Sam was shy back then, if anyone would believe such a thing about Samuel Thomas Wilson. But yeah, there was a time when a simple smile from Erik got Sam flustered and tongue tied. Erik would never admit it, but shit, he was just as nervous around Sam back then. They’d been young and it was just an unnamed infatuation back then. 

That was before Sam’s dad passed away and he couldn’t visit his family on the West coast anymore. Before Erik lost his dad and they lost touch with each for a while. Before they ended up in the military and their paths crossed again. Before they decided to get out together, both of them just ready to do something else with their lives.

When they got home, they found they couldn’t face their demons standing side by side. They split up for a few months and sought help to get better. Erik would never forget when Sam showed up at his apartment out of the blue and took him out to lunch.

Sam had said something, the words now gone from his memory, but Erik remembered how Sam had said them. How shaky and unsure his voice was as he said it.

_“Bruh, are you flirting with me?” Erik asked softly glancing at the other._

_Sam raised his eyebrow slightly and shrugged. “Yeah.”_

_Erik just shook his head and sighed. “Bruh, I don’t know how to tell you this…but you being so composed all the time and then seeing you this nervous again is some cute shit.”_

_Sam smiled to himself and shook his head._

_“What? You thought I was finna shut you down just now? Nah, man,” Erik said. “Nah, I been waiting to ask you out since I saw you again overseas. I just couldn’t find the words around you.”_

_“Well lucky for you I’m free and very interested in you too N’Jadaka,” Sam whispered._

_Erik was eight all over again with his birth name on Sam’s lips. He’d told Sam the name his father gave him because it was so special and his most prized possession at the time. Sam never teased him for how it sounded. He never really used it either. He continued to call him Erik every time after that. The fact he remembered after all these years made Erik’s chest tighten._

_“So you remembered?” Erik asked._

_Sam searched his eyes before pressing his lips against Erik’s, their first kiss in ages. “Like I’d forget someone like you.”_

Erik came back to the harsh reality of the hospital room and felt his heart ache at his memories. He fought off thoughts of their wedding day as he touched his wedding band with his thumb. He didn’t want to think about having to call Darlene and Sarah and tell them some news that would shatter their entire world. But he knew he would have to let them know. Just as mad as Erik had been at the team lying to him all day, he knew Sam’s mother and sister would feel betrayed if he kept them in the dark.

 “I need you to get better babe,” Erik said to Sam before he closed his eyes against the emotions welling up inside of him again. “….please.”

-

-

-

-

_“Why are you so quiet?” Sam whispered._

_“Thinking,” Erik whispered back as they laid in the dark in bed after dinner._

_“About me leaving tomorrow?” Sam asked feeling around for Erik’s hand until he found it and held it._

_“Yeah,” Erik said sadly._

_“You always get like this before I leave,” Sam said turning over on his side toward his husband._

_“Can you blame me?” Erik looked away and knew Sam would argue his same points on this topic and make him feel like he was being irrational._

_“No, I thank you,” Sam said instead, placing a kiss on Erik’s shoulder. Erik turned to look over in Sam’s direction. “For sharing me with the world. I know what I’ve chosen to do is perilous and every time I step out there, I not only give away some of our time together, I gamble with our future. But love I don’t want you for a minute to think I’m not out there fighting for you, for my mom, Sarah and Jody. That I don’t carry each of you in my heart when I’m fighting because a safer world means a safer place for all of you too.”_

_“Why-why are you so hard to stay mad at man?” Erik asked forcing himself to smile. He wanted to hide the ball of emotion in his throat at his husband’s words, he didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want Sam’s memory of tonight while he’s in the field to be one of tears._

_“Because you love me,” Sam said softly before placing a soft kiss on his chest._

_Erik cradled his head in his hand then stroked his cheek. “I absolutely do,” Erik whispered turning over to hug Sam close._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the series will take a look at some of the moments and memories featured here before we find out how things turn out.
> 
> If you’ve got comments or kudos, please leave them down below.

**Author's Note:**

> The series will take a look at a few the memories and moments mentioned here before we find out how all of this turns out. 
> 
> Let's get started. 
> 
> Any comments and kudos down below please!
> 
> *[This fic was originally a chapter work but for ease of reading this work's chapter 2 can be found later in the series where it would appear in reading order. -Rhang, 6/25/2018]


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